My journey started in 2014, 2 weeks before my 50th birthday. I thought it was odd, maybe it was due to the diet I was on. I was afraid of the “c” word.
Welcome to my wig boutique where my mission is to help you turn lemons into lemonade, by providing you comfortable, natural looking and affordable wigs/toppers. While getting ready for work, like so many other days before, I noticed a handful of hair coming out when I brushed my hair. Maybe this was one more “joy” of menopause. Maybe it was just due to stress from the job. Maybe it was nothing and
would go away as quickly as it showed up. By the end of the first week, most of the hair on my head was gone. I decided it was time to call the doctor. I didn’t dare say it, as I didn’t want to claim it. I had a teenage son, 2 older children and grandchildren. I wasn’t ready for anything as drastic as the “c” word. I was very frightened, so scared to go to the doctors. I went to the doctors, with tears in my eyes. My doctor told me I had Alopecia. I had never heard of Alopecia and didn’t know what it was. She claimed she had never seen a case as bad as mine. In fact, she had only read about cases like mine. She held me while I cried. Tears of loss, tears of thankfulness that I didn’t have the “c” word, and tears of confusion, fear, anxiety. Could this lead to other issues, will my hair ever come back, will it get worse? She ordered some blood tests and referred me to a dermatologist. A week later I went to the dermatologist. By this time, I had lost all the hair on my entire body. She confirmed I had Alopecia Universalis, the most extreme version. Alopecia is an auto immune disease where your body sees hair as a foreign object and attacks it. There isn’t a cure for Alopecia, the doctors don’t know why it happens. It’s not prejudice to age, sex or ethnic background. It seems more prevalent in younger children whose immune system isn’t fully developed or has been compromised for some reason. During the process of losing my hair, I felt tremendous loss. With each strand that came out, the loss was so heavy. It was so weird, it wasn’t the loss of my hair per say … just loss in general. It brought up all the loss I had over the course of my lifetime. Especially the death of my twin sister at the age of 27. People would say to me, at least you don’t have cancer or I wish I didn’t have any hair or It’s only hair, no big deal. Even though their words weren’t necessarily wrong, they hurt. I was grieving and it felt heartless. No one would dare say that to someone who had just lost an arm. Why was losing my hair any different? I felt like an alien, no hair on my head, no eye lashes, and no eyebrows. I felt ugly! A grieving puddle of ugliness. In the depths of my pity, I had to make a change. I couldn’t take feeling the loss one more day. What little dead strands I had left on my head, I had my husband shave them off. I didn’t want my body to choose when to have the remaining sprigs fall out. I needed to take control. When my husband finished shaving my head, I felt relief. No more pain of losing my hair. At that moment, I decided to turn lemons into lemonade. I purchased several wigs, all kinds, long, short, blond, black, brown, cheap, expensive, etc. I was a different person each day. Hair become an accessory, like a scarf or a pair of earrings. And on some days, when I was feeling confident and courageous, I would go bald. I figured if no one knew I didn’t have hair, how could I ever minister to the broken. It’s been three years now and still no hair. My heart is to help others in similar situation. I want to help you turn your lemons into lemonade. I will be opening Lori’s Lemonade Stand on August 12th. It will be located in my home. I decided to open my boutique out of my home for a couple of reasons. 1) Real estate is very expensive in southern CA, but more importantly 2), the first wig I purchased was from a boutique located in someone’s home. I visited many wig stores and they were so impersonal, so big and daunting. I was hurting, broken and needed a safe place to be vulnerable. Out of someone’s home was exactly what I needed. I want to provide you a safe place to come try on wigs or toppers where you can cry, laugh, walk in confidence, feel beautiful, and be all that you were born to be. I will carry wigs and hair products by Norkio, Rene of Paris, Amore, Revlon and Jon Renau. I’m so excited for the partnerships with these companies. They have been fabulous to work with and truly love their customers. Please follow, share, like, visit, email, call, or come by and visit. I would love to be a part of your journey! Thanks and have a wonderful day!
